Karimah Hassan is a London-based artist who has just held her largest solo exhibition to date at Holborn’s Rosewood in partnership with Frieze London. She’s also worked with institutions like the Barbican and fashion brands like Burberry and here, we asked her to talk us through a typical day…

6am

I wake up naturally with the sun, so in the winter this usually shifts to 7am. The first thing I do is say a prayer. I then do 20-30 minutes of meditation and breathwork using the Insight app. I then go for a five-minute walk just to get some fresh air and sunlight.

7.15am

Once I’m back from my walk, I do my morning pages. Each month I get a new journal. I keep them all in an orange trunk and I’ve been doing that since 2018, so I have a lot. I’ll also have my first coffee of the day from Monmouth. I’m really not a breakfast person, so I’ll just have my coffee with fruit and nuts. While I’m in the shower, I will have a podcast by Elizabeth Gilbert, Malcolm Gladwell or Shara Rose on in the background because I love a bit of self-development. After my shower I dry brush with almond oil. I’m trying out Rhode skincare at the moment, which I love. Other products I swear by include La Roche Posay Vitamin C12 Serum and Omorovicza’s Queen of Hungary face mist. I tend not to wear make-up during the day – just a bit of lipstick and a good fragrance sets me up. My daytime signature scent is e11even – I designed the artwork for the bottle.

8am 

I get dressed twice a day. First it’s into some athleisurewear as I’ll be heading to the gym or for a run later in the day. My workout gear comes either from Nike, Sweaty Betty or lululemon. Once I’m dressed, I make the 20-minute walk to my studio in east London and get into my painting flow work. I can’t leave the house without lipstick and Elizabeth Arden’s Eight Hour Cream. My studio is in a warehouse space with lots of light, big paintings everywhere, plants, lots of books, postcards and letters. It’s my oasis, my safe space. When I’m painting, I love to listen to playlists featuring Gilles Peterson or Haseeb Iqbal. I love jazz, Philly and neo soul – Common and Jill Scott are on rotation right now. Music is so important to me, and I never thought that it would become my biggest inspiration, but it really has. I’ve also been listening to hours of interviews and speeches on YouTube, everyone from Jim Carrey to Anna Wintour. One of my favourites is by Denzel Washington called Fall Forward.